The 2025 IP Australia report has shown an increase in trade mark activity once again, with filings higher than in any year since the record filings observed post-COVID, in 2021. Some countries had notable increases in filings, with China taking over as the biggest foreign filer of trade marks into Australia.

The IP Australia 2025 report examines trends in trade mark filings into and out of Australia in the 2024 calendar year.

Australian trade mark filings were up from the previous year by almost 3%, as were design filings which had a huge increase of 9% from the previous year. Applications for non-cereal field crop Plant Breeders Rights were also up by a huge 48%. The only dip was in patent filings, which fell by 3%.

Australian residents made more than 50% of Australian trade mark filings in the past year. In Australia itself, the top filing state was New South Wales, followed by Victoria and Queensland.

The number of Australian SMEs that own trade marks are now over 188,000 (from under 176,000 the year before), showing strong local enthusiasm for investment in non-tangible assets.

The top countries filing trade marks in Australia are China, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and New Zealand. Notably, the UAE had strong growth as a filer into Australia. Trade mark applications from China have now overtaken trade mark applications originating in the USA. Applications originating from China have nearly doubled in the last year.

Replicating last year’s report, sectors with higher trade mark filings were broadly shown to be (i) technological/electrical apparatus and instruments (ii) advertising (iii) education/training and entertainment (iv) scientific and technological and (v) clothing/footwear/headgear.

Categories with large growth in trade mark filings included household or kitchen utensils and containers and furniture. These were largely represented in international filings. The growth continued for sectors such as clothing, footwear, headgear, non-medicated cosmetics and toiletry preparations and pharmaceutical and veterinary preparations.

The 2025 report also states that economic studies show that trade marks can attract investment in business. For instance, the report refers to a study of European startups which indicated that filing for a trade mark increased startup valuation by venture capitalists by 22%.

The trade mark chapter of IP Australia’s annual report can be viewed here: Chapter 3: Trade marks | IP Australia.

For a confidential discussion about your local or overseas trade mark strategy, please feel free to contact Dentons.